Tom was
workaholic and friendly with everyone at his work. It was Tom, who would serve
coffee, or make print copies for everyone. Every time. Every day. He was like
that as long as he could remember. But in recent years, things had changed, and
so was Tom.

Those who saw the quasi-friendly, quasi-hostile sledging between Indian and Chinese soldiers on a barren patch of land strewn with stones, apparently near the Nathu La Pass on the Sikkim-Tibet border, must have been left quite bewildered. The first reaction of most would have been that some harmless jostling was in progress in inhospitable heights where Indian and Chinese forward positions exist face-to-face across an unmarked border. But when Chinese troops unceremoniously pushed back a batch of Indian pilgrims and stopped them from proceeding to Kailash-Mansarovar, matters looked more serious than initially thought.

On his first foreign trip, President Trump has met with King
Salman in Saudi Arabia, the home of Mecca and Medina, the holiest shrines of
Islam. He met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel and visited the
Western Wall, all that remains of the Jewish Temple Mount. And he then met with
Pope Francis in the Vatican.

The upcoming 19th Congress of the nearly 88-million strong Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is important not only for Xi Jinping and China, but potentially for China’s neighbours and the world. It will consolidate the course on which China is set.

By Tendar Tsering | May 8, 2017
|I could call my family in Tibet twice a year, but
they couldn’t contact me. There was no

international out call service in most
of the places in Tibet. It was a forbidden region. I would call them once in
awhile. Occasionally I was able to reach them but most of the time, they were
unreachable. “Duibuqi, ni de dianhua buzai choe” –Your call
is not reachable— was the answer most of the time, but occasionally, I was able
to reach them after hours of trying over and over again. Whenever I spoke with my parents over the phone,
I sensed both of my parents were living in agony and regret. My mother would
often apologize to me for sending me away to an unknown country. She would
always keep sobbing. Her agony and her tears would always remind me that the
pain in her heart was still an open wound. Knowing my tears would be like
rubbing salt into her open wound, I would always calm myself, and hold in my
tears. But I often cried in silence while lying on my bed, drowning myself with
tears.

On November 19, 2016, the Dalai Lama arrived in Ulaanbaatar for a five-day visit that was called a religious event by the Government of Mongolia. In fact, the trip can be seen as the latest move in a geopolitical chess game that has been going on since the 16th century. On his fourth day in Ulaanbaatar, the Dalai Lama held a press conference where he said that he is convinced of the recent rebirth of the Jebtsundampa Khatagt in Mongolia. The Jebtsundampa Khatagt, meaning the “Reverend Noble Incarnate Lama,” is the traditional title bestowed upon the patriarchs of Mongolian Buddhism, which, as an institution, follows the teachings of the “Yellow Hat” sect under the Dalai Lama’s leadership.

Last week, they were furious after the announcement of the verdict of the
Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA). The International Tribunal in The Hague
had given its ruling on a reference by the Philippines over the South China Sea
(SCS): China has no historic ‘rights’ over the natural resources in most of the
areas of the SCS; further any right must not exceed what’s permitted by the UN
Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
Now, China is upset again.
This time, it is because the Indian press reported the deployment of T-72
battle tanks in Ladakh.

In Tibetan community, a religious man can take the
role of political leadership while the otherwise wouldn’t be possible for a
layman unless he/she is an incarnated being. Ever since the Dalai Lama
renounced his political leadership, the election for Sikyong (Tibetan political
leader equivalent to prime minister) assumed significant attention from every
nook and corner of the Tibetan community. There is no denying of the fact that
the Tibetan leadership has democratically well grounded as the two most popular
and powerful leaders of the decade are fighting for the prime ministerial post.

Although the
Communist Party of China officially proclaims its firm adherence to atheism in
its ideology, in its promotions and rankings, and in its policies, it also
rather consistently undermines its own atheistic position when it comes to
Tibetan Buddhism, specifically, with regard to its policy involving the
reincarnations of the Tibetan Lamas.

Rangzen means more than freedom from oppressors and
suppressors, it means the sheer joy and liberty to own and run the whole
sovereignty of a nation independently but unlike Rangzen, Umaylam—the Middle
Way Approach is a strategy set and voted by the public. So, contrary to the
growing number of Rangzen activists demanding to end the Middle Way Approach,
recent incidents in New York/ New Jersey and else where speak other wise—
making many mull over that maybe it’s the Rangzen which needs to be reviewed.